Page 50 of A Virgin for the Duke of Thorns

She closed her eyes as a fierce blush crept up her cheeks.

Her dress was completely disheveled, her hair in disarray. Colin was picking up her hairpins off the floor, for goodness’s sake! It would be clear to anyone with eyes that they had just been doing something highly inappropriate.

“Turn around.”

She looked up at him in surprise, the mortification still staining her cheeks.

His lips curled into a slight smile. “I said turn around, little lamb.”

His voice was soft, and yet it was infused with a subtle power. He was not commanding her or ordering her around, but she found herself compelled to obey him all the same.

“I am not going to bite you.” He laughed softly. “I just need to help you put your stays back on.”

She blinked at him. “You… know how to put them back on.”

He looked slightly embarrassed at her question and coughed lightly. “If I know how to take them off you, then I can very well put them back on, yes?”

Alice did not understand how the mundaneness of their current exchange could possibly make her want to laugh, but it did. The mirth bubbled up her throat as she turned around and swept her hair to the side.

“All right, then,” she teased him. “Let me see if you can do a finer job than my maid does.”

“And if I do a finer job than your maid,” he replied with an easy grin, “will you let me take these off more often?” He punctuated the end of his sentence by pulling on the laces, causing her to let out a little gasp.

It was not too loose and not too tight. It was just perfect.

But that does not mean I am going to let him take liberties with my body anytime he wants! Even though that is a rather tempting idea.

“So…” He leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to where her neck and her shoulder met. “How did I do?”

She turned around and gave him a tremulous smile. “Not too bad.”

The thought that he might have done this for a great many other women filled her with a simmering kind of anger. She turned back around and reached for the buttons on her dress. Even if she knew it was close to impossible, she was not going to ask him for his help and then have him smugly propose some other highly inappropriate activity.

If he did, she just might take him up on his offer, and would that not be the end of her dignity?

“Let me,” he offered as she fumbled with the nasty, little things. “Do not be stubborn, little lamb.”

She pursed her lips and stilled, allowing him to fix her dress. After he had done her buttons, he handed her back her hairpins.

Fortunately, her maid had done her hair in a rather simple style for the journey that morning, one that Alice was capable of managing on her own. With a deft hand, she twisted the heavy mass of dark locks and secured them in place with her jeweled pins. She caught her reflection in the polished silver decor and pursed her lips. It was not perfect, but it would do.

At least, she would not look as if she had just been mauled. Or pleasured to within an inch of her life.

“Well, we have found the treasure now.” She grimaced, handing him the little note.

He smiled and closed his hand over hers. “Yes, we have.”

She looked suspiciously at him. Somehow, she had the slight feeling that he was not talking about the treasure. With Colin, one really could not be sure.

He truly is a sly Wolf. And I am as foolish as Red Riding Hood for falling for his charms.

“Let us hurry back,” she muttered, turning away from him as her cheeks flared with heat again.

“I thought the door was locked from the outside.” He smirked at her.

She frowned and rattled the doorknob. To her surprise, it turned easily in her hand, and the door swung open. She heard Colin mutter something under his breath—a curse or two, perhaps.

“On the off chance that it was still locked, what would you have done?” he asked her as they walked down the empty corridor. Every once in a while, his arm would brush against hers and send tingles dancing down her spine.

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